How the Internet is Ruining Shopping and How We Can Save It
As we know, the internet is revolutionizing consumer behavior and re-shaping shopping patterns in every sense. At the same time, traditional offline retailers are struggling to keep pace, driving consumers to shop online in increasing numbers. All of this is good for the average shopper, right?
Not so fast.
As brick-and-mortar stores struggle to keep up, the online shopping experience isn't exactly perfect either. While the technology and efficiency of buying goods and services online have evolved dramatically, mechanisms for product search, discovery, and evaluation have not kept pace.
A closer look at the overall trends reveals that in fact, many of the very advances that have improved our "buyin
g" experience online have only served to ruin the "shopping" experience. There's a difference between buying and shopping, after all, right?
With buying – you know exactly you want, and probably prefer a one-click-and-done experience. However, as we all know, half the fun of shopping is browsing, getting recommendations from trusted friends, looking around a little bit in a way that satiates your desire to browse (like window shopping) and everyone's secret wish for serendipity – i.e. finding the perfect thing you didn't know you needed.
While online buyers have become accustomed to a one-click checkout, overnight delivery, and free online returns, shopping online has become a world where big-data companies have evolved to routinely exploit consumer privacy.
According to an NCC study, 77% of people do not feel completely safe when buying goods online. Over the years, several attempts have been made to improve the situation, but most have failed or fallen short. Nevertheless, these problems can be solved with a fundamentally different approach to shopping in a digital era.
Some have argued that incorporating social media into the shopping experience could be the answer. After all, social media is all about accessing the tribal wisdom of trusted friends and colleagues.
While there is some value in getting a product recommendation from a Facebook friend, shared social connections don't necessarily translate to shared tastes. It turns out that similarities in aesthetic sense, lifestyle and price-consciousness and a number of other factors are more important than friendship when it comes to shopping recommendations. Major social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Pinterest are not engineered to foster environments that really help shoppers.
To create a trusted online shopping environment where consumers are encouraged to authentically share their experiences and connect to others who share similar tastes and interests is no small task.
The solution will require the use of social media in a way that is actually helpful and useful. It will need to leverage the power of data to really help consumers, not just retailers; to convey detailed information that is relevant and trustworthy with a modern design; to turn the-chore-of shopping into something that is rewarding and fun. The goal is ultimately to make online shopping feel as fun as offline shopping at the stores used to be. Remember walking around a mall with your friends to just check things out?
According to PwC Strategy, only 16% of shopping is occurring online so far, but it's already a trillion-dollar ecosystem. The wheels are turning, and race is on to create a place where shoppers can make authentic recommendations, leveraging commerce-enabled, highly visual curation so shoppers can discover and fall in love with products. When, how and who will lead the charge remains to be foreseen.